Nestlé plans to introduce plant-based Toll House morsels, making it easier for vegans to enjoy homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Why it matters: Despite tough times for plant-based meat, major food companies are still bullish on the plant-based category, which has particular appeal among younger consumers.

Driving the news: As part of a broader effort to introduce more plant-based products, Nestlé's new Toll House morsels will hit shelves "potentially as early as 2023," Nestlé USA's chief strategy officer Melissa Cash tells Axios.

• While Nestlé introduced a line of dairy-free morsels for people with food allergies in 2018, the forthcoming product will be positioned differently.
• "Nestlé Toll House plant-based morsels will be a brand-new product within the Toll House portfolio," the company said in a statement.
• "As we continue to look to innovate in the plant-based category, baking is an area we're excited to explore," Nestlé said.

What they're saying: "Plant-based, especially for those that are trying to avoid dairy, can be one of those places where you feel like you have to compromise," Cash tells Axios.

• "You think about chocolate chips and indulgence — that's a place that you don't want to compromise," she said. "So we're looking to innovate in that plant-based space... to really push out plant-based morsels."

Yes, but: Nestlé wouldn't say what ingredients the new morsels would contain, or how they might differ from the Allergen-Free Morsels line.

• Those chips are made with only three ingredients — "cocoa butter, pure cane sugar and 100% real chocolate" — all of which are considered vegan.